Mitsubishi Heavy
Gets Set to Build
Passenger Planes

TOKYO -- Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. said it will go ahead with a plan to commercialize what would be Japan's first domestically manufactured passenger aircraft in about four decades.

The 70- to 90-seat passenger jet, called the Mitsubishi Regional Jet, is expected to be flying as early as 2013. The MRJ project, with development costs of 150 billion yen to 180 billion yen ($1.51 billion to $1.81 billion), will be Japan's first domestically made passenger aircraft project since the YS-11 turboprop, which ended production...